Page 20

Chapter 20

Somewhere on the Outskirts of the Heart

M oon watched the blond lady with the scarred face while she took Sky’s magic. Mommy and Daddy had told her and Sky lots of times growing up, “don’t hit.” But she really wanted to smack the twisted smile off that creepy lady’s face.

The goddess said no, though. “Wait,” she said, and “not yet.” Today she said “soon.” But Moon was starting to wonder if the goddess would ever save them. She clenched her fists and tried her best not to glare at the big people in the room. It was better, the goddess said, to do what they said. To pretend to be nice, obedient little children, so the bad people wouldn’t get angry and hit them or forget to feed them. But it was hard to keep from acting out.

And today it was even harder than usual. Today, they’d been dragged through one portal after another, then stuffed into a room in a healer’s office. Sometimes, they saw other kids, always from a distance. They never got to talk to the others, but sometimes the other kids would see Moon and Sky watching them and they’d wave when the big people weren’t looking.

They looked even sadder than Moon and Sky did, most of the time. But today, the kids had all gone walking past the front window of the healer’s office in big groups. Some of them were holding knives or guns, or carrying potion bottles. They all looked scared. And even though Moon didn’t know what they were scared of, seeing them look so awful made her tummy hurt and her chest feel funny.

Where were the other kids going? There were big people around them, snapping at them like old Mr. Thomas’s sheep dogs with a herd. And why were Moon and Sky locked up in this room when all the other kids were going away?

The blond woman with the scars finished with Sky and gulped down her stolen potion. Then she stretched her hands over her head, stretching and grinning. “Goddess, that feels amazing,” she told the other big people. “Like I just woke up from the world’s best sleep and downed about a dozen energy potions. I feel like I could take on the world!”

“Well, let’s hope it protects the pretty side of your face this time around,” one of the men said with a wink.

They were brother and sister, Moon thought, and that must be the only reason the man got away with saying things like that to the woman. The Prime of their coven. Anyone else who talked to her that way got punished.

The woman narrowed her eyes at the man. “My scars just prove my dedication to our cause. And to our people.” She nodded toward me and handed him an empty glass vial. “Hurry up, it’s almost time to move into our new headquarters.”

They both laughed, but their words meant nothing to Moon. All she knew was that the big people seemed to think today was a big important day. The man moved toward Moon, and she had to try really hard not to shuffle backward or tell him no. She lifted her chin and told herself she was a big girl. The goddess said to do what the bad people asked of her. For now. But soon, she wouldn’t have to listen to them anymore.

“Come on, girlie,” the blond man said with a gross grin. “Fill ‘er up for Uncle Kyle, like a good girl.”

Moon took the vial, but she couldn’t help scowling. “You’re not my uncle,” she muttered under her breath.

The man just chuckled, like it was a funny joke. “Still some spark left in this one,” he said to his sister. “Maybe you haven’t been starving them enough.”

The Prime shrugged. “A little spirit just means her magic will be that much stronger. Hurry up, we need to move.”

Moon didn’t wait for the man to do something to make her fill the vial. She was sick of being hit or listening to their mean words. She was so mad that the magic flowed out of her faster than usual. It burned as it flowed out of her aura, an important, private part of her being forced out into the world for this idiot-man to guzzle down. When the vial was full, her head hurt, and everything was a little blurry.

The stupid Kyle man snatched the vial out of her hands before she could drop it. She felt a little like she might throw up while she watched him toss it back like some big people did with alcohol.

“You two be good and stay put,” the woman commanded, crossing her arms over her chest and looking down at them with an expression on her face that said she’d beat them black and blue if they didn’t listen. “You’ve got half an hour to rest up before you top off the rest of us. Be quiet and sleep. Do a good job for us and I’ll make sure you both get a nice piece of cake tonight. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

Moon and Sky looked at each other, then nodded. Like good little children. No punching or swearing. Even though they both knew she’d never give them cake. They were lucky if they even got some stale bread and jerky. If it wasn’t for the things the goddess brought them in secret, they’d probably have starved by now.

The adults shuffled out of the room, and the door snicked shut behind them. Moon heard the familiar click of a lock, and felt a small trickle of magic as the bad people locked them in with both normal and magical protections.

They wouldn’t be able to get out. They’d tried lots of times before. It only ended in burned fingers and punishment. Sky came over to her and patted her head, the way Daddy used to sometimes when they’d cry. “It’s okay Moony,” he whispered. “I’m here. Don’t cry.”

She didn’t realize that she was crying, until he said that. She wiped her eyes and sniffed her nose. She couldn’t cry. She was the big sister. “You either,” she told Sky in as adult a voice as she could manage. “Don’t you cry either. It’ll be okay.”

They both had tears running down their cheeks. But they didn’t call each other liars.

Moon had just climbed up on the healer’s bed thingy with Sky and wrapped up in a scratchy blanket, when a soft brush of familiar magic washed over her poor, tired aura. The goddess appeared before them, her see-though shape becoming solid this time.

“Oh, little ones,” she said in her beautiful voice. “I’m so sorry you’ve had to endure so much for so long.” A soft hand stroked both their heads, and Moon’s bottom lip wobbled as she tried extra hard not to cry.

“I wanna go home,” Sky said, beating her to what she was going to say. That was okay, since he was the little brother.

The goddess smiled softly and squeezed Sky’s shoulder. “I know you do, loves. And I think it’s time. You must be brave a little while longer. I won’t be able to stay solid yet, but I will be with you from now on, right by your sides.”

Moon took Sky’s hand in hers and they both squeezed hard. Were they finally going to get out of here? Was the goddess going to save them?

“Come now,” the ethereal being said, turning away and striding to the one little window in the room. She had silver-blonde hair, and a flowy sort of pants and shirt that looked like they’d been dried on a clothesline outside. Strange, for a goddess to have wrinkles in her clothes, but Moon was too thankful she was real to be worried about that. Maybe goddesses had to borrow clothes when they wanted to be solid. That made sense. “Quick and quiet, while all the bosses are busy cooing over their dastardly plans,” the goddess whispered.

Moon was going to tell her that the window would be locked too, and that the magic would burn her fingers… but she was a goddess. It was no surprise when she whispered something and did some kind of magic that let her open the window like it had never been locked.

“Out you go,” she said, helping to lift first Moon then Sky out the little window and onto the cement below. Moon almost panicked when she realized that the goddess was too big to fit out the tiny window. But then their savior disappeared and re-appeared beside them, less solid now, more like a ghost. “I can’t hold onto my physical form too long yet, but I’m here. This way.”

They followed the goddess down an alleyway and crawled through a hole in a decorative fence. Moon’s heart was like a drum, so loud she could hear it in her ears and feel it tingle through her fingertips. What if the bad people caught them sneaking out? What kind of punishment would they get for that? Would the bad people hurt them worse than ever? Would they… kill them? She hung on tight to Sky’s hand, afraid to be separated from him for even a second.

What if the goddess wasn’t really a goddess? What if she was a mischievous ghost who was leading them somewhere worse, like in that one story in her old fairytale book?

They rounded a corner. There were people lying on the sidewalk, and cars just sitting at weird angles on the road. The people didn’t look hurt. They looked like they were sleeping.

“Are they dead?” Sky whispered, his voice wobbling.

The goddess shook her head. “Just sleeping. Cursed by the bad people who kept you prisoner.”

She herded them down another alley, this one darker and narrower than before. Then she stopped and made them crouch down behind a garbage bin. “Wait here and I’ll—”

The goddess stopped and tilted her head, like she was listening to something only she could hear. Then she smiled and slowly became solid again. She quickly and quietly lifted the lid of the big dumpster, then peered inside. Her small laugh sounded like music. Then she turned to them and waved them over. “Come, children, hurry.”

Moon was confused when the goddess wanted to put them in the dumpster. But then she felt a strange little prickle of magic. “There’s something in here,” she said, reaching out a hand to touch the old backpack that rested on top of a couple bags of trash.

Sky pressed his back against the metal wall of the dumpster and shook his head. “Don’t touch it, Moon,” he said solemnly. “It feels like bad witch magic.”

But the goddess only gave that little laugh again and waved away Sky’s concern. “It’s okay. Open up the backpack. But be very quiet. I’m going to find you some food, then we’ll keep moving. We’re very close now.”

She didn’t say close to what. The goddess was always saying things like that. Like they had to get somewhere before she could use her full powers. Or before Moon and Sky would be safe. When they asked about it, the goddess only told them they’d understand when the time came. She said, “I don’t want to get your hopes up, little ones.”

But that was silly. Because hoping was really all they had anymore.

“Shh,” she reminded them as she gently closed the lid of the dumpster, leaving them in darkness.

A little tiny sliver of light snuck in around the edge of the lid, where it didn’t sit down flat, and it gave Moon just enough light to see the backpack. She dragged it off the trash bags and over to where Sky was standing, surprised when the bag made a little squeak.

“There’s something in there,” Sky said again, not sounding very excited.

“The goddess said we should open it,” she reminded him, like a big girl. She was only a little afraid. But mostly she was excited. She liked discovering new things.

Moon crouched down and got to work. It took a while to get the knot in the backpack’s drawstrings untied. Whoever had knotted it up really didn’t want it to be opened. But once she got the knot undone, the bag opened itself and something pushed its way out of the fabric and scampered into her lap.

“Aww,” Moon cooed at the cute thing that emerged. Sky came closer to look down at the creature Moon now held in her lap.

They both jumped when the little animal talked . “Who are you?” It said in a high, soft voice. “Where is River? I can’t believe he locked me in a dumpster!”

Oh, the little thing was mad. But that just made it even cuter. Moon scooped it up with her hands under its little armpits and held it up to her face. “The goddess said we need to be quiet,” she whispered. “So you can talk, but shhh.”

The little thing with the cute skunk-striped head whispered back. “Fine. The person who was with you, though… where did they go?”

Moon explained gravely to the little creature. “The goddess brought us here. She saved us. She said she was going to get us some food.”

Sky groaned and plopped down beside Moon and the creature. “I’m soooo hungry,” he complained, putting his hands on his tummy. “I hope it’s something besides moldy bread.”

The little creature made a huffing sound and started kicking its hind legs. “Have you really been eating moldy bread? Put me down.”

Moon supposed it was probably rude to hold a rodent person up by his armpits. She sat him down and he ran back over to the backpack and started rooting around. When he emerged, he backed out, dragging something along with his mouth. Moon clapped a hand over her mouth to keep from making a loud sound when she realized what it was.

“Cookies,” Sky whispered excitedly. “You’ve got cookies?”

The little rodent thing had prickles on his back, but Moon petted them carefully and they didn’t hurt her. “Can we have some cookies, please, Mr. Creature?”

The little thing snorted. “My name is Hibiscus. And yep. Eat all the cookies you want. They taste like chocolate chip, but they’re special. My witch made them to help restore physical and magical energy, and fortify you for battle.” His little voice was very proud.

“Battle?” Moon asked, while Sky took a big bite out of a cookie and moaned.

The little Hibiscus creature looked at them both and waggled its face fur in a way that reminded Moon of a person raising their eyebrows. “Yes. The war. Isn’t that where your ‘goddess’ saved you from?”

Sky stopped eating. Moon stared down at the little creature person as her eyes got all watery for some reason.

The other little kids all went away. And they were carrying weapons. They were scared really bad…

Hibiscus seemed to realize that Moon and Sky were upset. He peeped and hopped back onto Moon’s lap, then stood up on his back legs and put his little front paws on her chest, reaching out one paw to pat her cheek. “It’s okay,” he said in a tone of voice that big people used. Just like the goddess. “I’m here now. I’ll protect you.”